


A New Defender's Rising

by The_Glittery_Hedgehog_Ninja



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Gen, Season 4 Spoilers, Season/Series 05, Spoilers, vld
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 13:03:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12388638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Glittery_Hedgehog_Ninja/pseuds/The_Glittery_Hedgehog_Ninja
Summary: "I think it's time that we had a discussion."Lotor's words to the Paladins were the beginning of an uneasy truce and an even more trepidatious alliance.  But with these words, both are united in one cause: rid the Universe of Zarkon, and in the Paladins' case, restore peace to all the planets that were bereft of it.As for whatever happens next, only time, and the unlikely sensation (and in some cases, something more) of true camaraderie will tell.*An exploration of what will happen in Voltron: Legendary Defenders Season 5





	A New Defender's Rising

**Author's Note:**

> Lotsa dialogue because the show relies heavily on dialogue (because of its medium), so apologies. Also in the first chapter, there's mostly Allura/Pidge/Shiro stuff. Lance is in the next chapter, and Hunk's in the one after that. Just a heads up.

"I think it's time that we had a discussion."   
  
Lotor's voice was equal parts suggestive, ominous, and confident through the speakers of Voltron's command centers, through which it was directly radioed to the helmets of Coran, all the active Blade of Marmora members, and rebel fighters.     
  
For several moments, utter silence flooded the space.  Connected through her headset, Pidge could hear Keith's heavy breathing over what had just occurred—Lotor had just saved his life.  The question that pervaded every member of the attack on Naxzela's thoughts was much warranted:  _ what had prompted Lotor to destroy Haggar's ship _ ?  

Through not-so-discrete reconnaissance, Voltron had discovered that Lotor and the Galra Empire were no longer allies, but surely he had his own agenda (one that didn't involve destroying ships of his own race), and rest assured his own agenda would be considered taboo in the realm of morals that Voltron would not associate with him—the Paladins were sure of that.

It was Shiro, ever the gallant hero, that was first broken out of the transient shock of Lotor's appeal so as to inquire, "What makes you so sure that we need to discuss anything?"  His voice was stern, but Keith could tell the slight quiver indicated that the normally resolute leader of Voltron was somewhat anxious.  

Keith had nearly risked his life to save them all, in addition to that, they had just won Naxzela—he knew Shiro wanted to take that victory home, not sit about and risk losing it.  From his position in the fighter closest to the planet, Keith sighed in agreement.  He may have owed Lotor his life at the moment, but that didn't mean he had to be eternally grateful.  

"You and I, for the time being, have similar goals.  Zarkon has ruled for far too long, and his oppression of the races has gone unmarred for ten thousand years," replied Lotor.  Lance could  _ hear _ the smirk on his face.

Quietly, Pidge grumbled, “Sounds more like he’s throwing a tantrum because his dad decided to punish him for something.”

“Indeed,” Allura agreed from beside her, “I say we discuss nothing and leave.  Lotor has been nothing but trouble for us in the past.”

His voice slightly distorted on the speakers, Coran replied, “That may be, Princess, but besides being a pain in the horushglump for us, Lotor hasn’t done anything … morally indecent, as we know of,  _ yet _ .”

“ _ So _ ?  He’s still a bad dude!” argued Lance.  “I mean, the guy’s Zarkon’s son, for crying out loud!  That literally  _ scr _ — _ eams _ evil!”

Twiddling his thumbs from beside Lance, Hunk looked back and forth between the direction of the Altean castle where Coran was and the rest of the team.  “So, what—what are we doing?  Leaving the probably angry son of an alien purple eggplant behind and calling it a day—preferably after we get some quality space grub?  Or, you know, going to meet with said angry son of an alien purple eggplant and falling into a horrible,  _ horrible _ trap?”

Suddenly, Keith’s face manifested on the communications screen.  His eyebrows were scrunched into a disbelieving “V” shape and his mouth was formed into a thin, furious line.  “ _ No _ !  The Blade of Marmora and I haven’t been searching for Lotor so we could team up with him … we’ve been searching for him so we could take him down because we assumed he was a vital part of Zarkon’s empire.  Since we know that he’s useless to them now, there’s no need to discuss anything.  I vote we leave.”

The rest of the Paladins were silent.  It was an answer that was so inherently  _ Keith _ , yet seemed entirely different.  He seemed somewhat more rational, a bit more willing to think through things.  They all sighed; it seemed that training with the Blade was truly helping him in ways that the believed they could not.  

“That may be, Keith,” Shiro began, slowly, for he had spent several moments lost in thought mulling over Lotor’s statement.  “But think about it, all of you.  If Lotor’s not wanted by the Empire, he and his Generals could prove to be powerful assets to Team Voltron.  I don’t know much about him, but from what you have all told me, I think his knowledge could be really valuable in our fight against Zarkon, especially since we know he has more inside information than any of us could have ever  _ dreamed _ of.  I’m not saying we should team up with him, especially not right now, but, maybe we should at least hear what he has to say.”  He paused, and turned directly toward his friend’s projected face.  Shiro gave a slight smile.  “And besides, Keith, Lotor saved your life.  That’s enough to make me  _ a little _ grateful to him.”      

Allura’s face contorted into one of pure irritation, but before she could open her mouth, Matt’s voice rang out over the speaker systems.  “Shiro, are you serious?  I’m not really sure this is a great idea … maybe we  _ should _ leave.  I mean, some of us are still smarting from taking down those canons … if this turns out to be an attack, I … I don’t know if we’ll all be able to make it.”

That remark immediately sent shivers up Pidge’s spine.  She had just found her brother, there was no way that she would lose him again.  But Shiro had proven again and again and  _ again _ that he was trustworthy—she was willing to give him a chance.  But only one, because if he screwed things up, she and her short arms were sucker punching him all the way to the Ulippa System.

On the communications screen, Kolivan, in his mask, materialized.  “Shiro,” he said, “Lotor is highly dangerous, and his status as of now warrants us to be wary.  If we do leave him, there is very high chance that Lotor and his Generals could be sparked to stage an attack on us.  He may have lost his position and influence on the Galra, but his resources and intelligence have not waned.”

“Wait—what?” Hunk asked.  “So either way we choose, we still lose?”

Allura huffed, “Not if we shoot him down right now.  There’s only one ship—if he  _ and _ his Generals are on it, we can kill … Pidge, what was that Earth saying you said?  ‘Kill two birds with one stone’?”  Although she knew that her animosity toward Galra was not entirely justified, Allura didn’t think she could ever look someone whose father had killed  _ her _ father in the eye, let alone, be on the same  _ side  _ as him.  

“Allura!” Shiro exclaimed, his eyes widening.  “Lotor saved Keith’s  _ life _ !  Don’t you think that warrants him at least  _ some _ of our time?”

Looking somewhat acquiescent, she replied, “Yes, but you must realize, Shiro, that I’ve fought Lotor  _ firsthand _ .  He’s deceptive  _ and _ manipulative—which I’m not saying is a characteristic of his people in general, but it has shown to be quite common in non-Marmoran Galra.  All I’m saying is, that we must proceed with some—and by that, I mean  _ a lot _ —degree of caution.”

“No one’s saying we aren’t, Princess,” Coran appeased.  “We’d all be careful even if it was someone who we were sure  _ wasn’t _ Lotor.”

“Exactly,” said Shiro.  He looked around at the rest of the Paladins, all of whom looked uneasy.  He gulped, praying to God that he wasn’t making the wrong decision.  “All right, so are we all in agreement that we’ll discuss with Lotor?”

Kolivan held his hand up toward his chest and bobbed his head.  “The Blade of Marmora are with you.”

Lance and Hunk nodded, their faces crossed with determination, and Pidge replied, “We’re agreed.”

“If we must,” complied Allura, who looked none-too compliant, purposely looking a different direction.  

Across the loudspeakers echoed Coran’s, “Agreed,” and Matt’s,”If you say so.”

The entire congregation turned toward Keith.  His face remained unmoving for several moments, before he finally sighed, “I trust you, Shiro.”

Shiro beamed and linked his headset’s communication line to Lotor’s.  “If you want to discuss, Lotor, then meet on the surface of Naxzela in four dobashes.”

“Four?” inquired Pidge.  “Is that enough time?”  

“Hey, the faster we get this over with, the faster I can get back to playing ‘Killbot Phantasm’—honestly, I’m so close to beating the last level, just need to get past the dragon boss,” drawled Lance.

Across the loudspeaker, Matt scoffed, “ _ Pssh _ , Pidge finished that game when she was in the second grade.”

“ _ What _ — _ Pidge _ , you  _ have _ to teach me! My prince always dies at the—”

“Fair enough,” Lotor’s voice exploded suddenly through all of their headsets.  It was strange and very sudden.  Pidge decided that there must have been some delay in the audio because of all the radiation that came from Planet Naxzela, but not everyone reached the same conclusion.    

Hunk groaned and banged his helmet on the bridge of the Yellow Lion.  “Ugh, it’s like he’s in my  _ head _ .”

“Sounds just like Lotor,” Allura groused.  “He probably thinks it will intimidate us.”

Lance grinned.  “Imagine that behind a suave voice like that, there’s teeny tiny itsy bitsy little man.  Like, you know, four-feet tall, needs to sit on a helmet to reach the controls of their Li—er, fighter.”

Pidge growled in his direction, as Shiro shook his head, “Come on, Lance—you need to stop goofing around—this is serious stuff.”  He paused for a moment, looking thoughtful.  “Oh, and for the record, Lotor’s going to be three-foot two,  _ not _ four-feet, and be totally bloated.  No muscles for him.”

“Come  _ on _ ,” argued Hunk.  “I think he’s going to be a tall and skinny man who doesn’t know how to have fun, kinda like Bi-Bo-Bi—not that he doesn’t know how to have fun, or anything, he’s a good guy.  Probably likes h'ordeuvres, too.”

Allura couldn’t help but imagine that Lotor would be a spitting image of his father—at least, that’s what she always saw when she thought of him.  Perhaps that, and her internalized hatred of the Galra, was why she despised him so much.  “Well, he’s going to look disgusting, of that I’m sure.”

“Come to think of it,” piped Coran from their headsets.  “None of us have ever _ seen _ Lotor before, have we?  Well, if my assumptions are correct and he  _ is _ the son of Zarkon and Honerva, then, I’m afraid he’s going to look quite … strange, to say the least.  Galra and Altean hybrids often end up looking like mongrel Horpylorpy-deedors.”  He blanched.  “Despite how beautiful Honerva was, I don’t think her Altean genes would have helped.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow.  While she knew next to nothing about Altean-Galra hybrid genetics, she was sure that if Lotor was able to sway the masses, he must have had  _ one _ redeeming quality.  She adjusted her glasses.“Why do you all assume that Lotor’s going to be some hideous monster?” She was greeted with appalled looks from the rest of the Paladins.  “I vote that he’s going to look like an intergalactic shampoo model.”

“What?  No way, Pidge, that spot’s reserved for  _ moi _ ,” quipped Lance, who ran a hand through his hair in what he thought was a seductive manner.  

Allura and Pidge gagged simultaneously.

“Shiro,” Keith’s face appeared on the communications screen.  He had somehow relieved himself of the small fighter he was in and was now in a larger cruiser with Kolivan, flanked by several other members of the Blade of Marmora.  “Approaching Naxzela’s surface, now.  No sign of Lotor yet.”

The current leader of Voltron looked behind them, noticing that Lotor’s ship was not moving at the pace that it had been last when they had seen him escaping from Zarkon’s army.  “Copy that, Keith.  Lotor hasn’t even breached Naxzela’s atmosphere.”

“Excellent, that will give us time to secure the area of any threats,” said Kolivan.  He and Keith blinked out from their screens, as they landed.

“Pidge, can you check on the rebel fighters and Coran?” Shiro asked.  “We haven’t heard from them in awhile.”

She nodded, immediately, setting up a link between her and Matt.  “On it.”

Shiro projected his voice out to the rest of the Paladins.  “All right, guys, let’s think of this as kind of a diplomacy mission.  We don’t want to willingly  _ engage _ with Lotor, because if you think about it, he’ll have his Generals backing him up, but if need be, we’ll cut him down.  Just try and do everything you can to avoid that situation.”

Allura tried to think of it like that, but the idea had trouble clicking in her mind.  Being diplomatic to potential Voltron supporters and people who needed help was  _ one _ thing, but attempting to be civil to Zarkon’s son?  She would have to hope that her father would lend her some of his strength to do that.

A few moments later, Pidge replied, “The rebel forces and Coran are on the surface.  Again, there’s no sign of Lotor, but Matt says that he’s got a visual on him right behind us.”

“Yep,” agreed Hunk.  “My sensors are picking up his ship really easily, considering it’s made from that comet.”

Shiro let out a haggard sigh.  “We’re going to have to discuss his need for the comet.  If we’re not careful, we might be in a lot of trouble with that ship of his.”  

Allura noted, “First things first, I suppose.  We’ve reached the surface of Naxzela.”

They landed with a mighty  _ thump _ ! that sent dust clouds of debris from the battle that had taken place prior all around.  The area was completely deserted, as all residents of planet Naxzela had been evacuated due to the explosion that was supposed to have taken place.  They were to be relocated to their homes in a few quintents, but for now, the entire planet was all theirs.

Voltron landed a few feet away from the rebels’ cruisers and the Altean castle, which was next to the Blade of Marmora’s varied fighters and cruisers that the had procured from the wreckage.  

Together, all of the groups decided to form a single file line that stood directly parallel to Lotor’s as he handed.  The exiled Galra prince’s ship’s descent was smooth and subtle and kicked up very little dust.  Compared to Voltron’s, it was significantly less flashy and much more suitable for espionage—of which both Shiro and Kolivan took a mental note.

“So, what—what?  Is he going to come to us?” asked Hunk, nervousness pervading his voice.  “Or are we going to him?”

“I think it’s safe to say that we’re all going to have to get out, so that it looks like us and Lotor are both on equal footing,” answered Shiro, already preparing to leave his Lion.

“Yeah, I think  _ that’s _ pretty much canceled considering we all look like we’re standing in a defensive line against him, but hey, getting out might be fun,” Pidge deadpanned.   

As the Marmorans exited, so did Coran, Matt and the rest of the rebels, followed by the Paladins.  They waited impatiently for the person who was supposed to exit the last ship: the ex-prince of the Galra Empire.

“Come on out, Lotor,” Shiro relayed through his headset.  He gritted his teeth.  “You said you wanted to discuss, and here we are.”

Another second passed, before the door to Lotor’s ship opened.  Every single one of them were shocked to see instead of a group of women, paraded a well-built man clad in the same tight-looking armor that the Generals had been wearing.  He was tall and somewhat lanky and not at  _ all _ as grotesque as they were imagining.

“Greetings, Paladins,” Lotor uttered, as he unclicked the lock on his helmet.  Slowly, he slid it off, revealing his luxurious white hair and immensely fine features.

Lance twitched when he saw Lotor’s hair, Allura’s jaw dropped when she beheld his ears, and Pidge’s smirk was evident as she announced, “I  _ told _ you he would be an intergalactic shampoo model.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Ships: not really important/prominent and will not really alter the character or affect the story *too* much except for character development -- Lotura and Plance, maybe Kidge probably not (like, 99% not unless someone gives me a good reason to ship it)


End file.
